


nothing on this planet compares to it

by riots



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Idiots in Love, Other, Post-Break Up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:20:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23338267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/riots/pseuds/riots
Summary: “Oh, sugar,” Moxxi sighs. She slides him another of those awful moonshine drinks. “You need to work on your game.”Axton takes it and knocks the whole thing back with three hard swallows, grimacing and shaking his whole body afterwards. “Jesus Christ,” he groans, and he slams the cup down on the bar, followed by his head. “I have no idea what just happened.”Moxxi pets a hand through his hair as she breezes away. “Don’t forget to tip, sugar.”it's been a long time since axton saw zer0, and it all comes rushing back
Relationships: Axton/Zer0 (Borderlands)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 52





	nothing on this planet compares to it

**Author's Note:**

  * For [florescent_dingo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/florescent_dingo/gifts).



> 🎶 back on my bullshit~ 🎶
> 
> i hope you like!!

Even on a spaceship, Moxxi’s new joint is just the same. “Nice place you got here,” he tells her, which earns him a wink and a smile.

“Aw, thanks, sugar,” she croons, and she’s got his beer ready for him before he’s even got to ask. He’s had a lot going on the last couple of years, and he can’t say he misses Pandora, but he kinda missed this. It’s been a while since he’s been anywhere long enough to make friends again, and he’s thinking that’s maybe he’s been missing that. “Long time no see. How goes the vault-hunting business?”

 _It’s shit_ , Axton thinks. “Not bad,” he says instead. He raises his beer to his mouth, savours the subpar taste of Pandoran swill. “I mean, there’s nothing like your first one, you know what I’m saying?” She rolls her eyes at him, smiling. “But it’s not bad.”

“Good enough for a tip?” she teases, and he drops in a few bucks obligingly. “Thanks, sweet thing.” 

He salutes her with his beer. “Anything for you, Moxx.”

He doesn’t have to ask anyone here what they’ve been up to. He knows them too well. They’re all saving the world. The usual. Maybe he should feel a little bad that he hasn’t been here, but he’s just a dude with a gun. They’ve got a new crowd now. 

As Moxxi turns away to grab a drink for an unfamiliar face (she’s tiny and blonde and gives him an unimpressed once-over and honestly, he feels right at home again), Axton settles back with his elbows on the bar. Big crowd here tonight. Brick has one enormous arm slung around Mordecai’s thin shoulders, laughing at a joke Tina is telling. Tina, shit. She’s real person size now. How long has he been off the scene?

The beer loosens his shoulders, but not a ton. He probably should’ve gotten something harder tonight. Not like he can’t afford it, after all. He’s come up empty on the whole ‘vault’ thing, and it’s been half disappointing, half a relief. It’s nice to have a breather from the whole hero thing every once in a while, y’know. Otherwise? It’s been kinda...lonely. He ran solo for a few years after Sarah and Dahl gave him the boot, and all it took was a couple of months on a shitty backwater like Pandora to ruin it all. He’s old enough now to have a good idea of who he is, and apparently? He’s a pack animal. He likes company. Feels strange to admit it.

Still, after what happened with Handsome Jack and … well, everything else, he’d needed to get the hell outta Dodge. Or at least off Pandora. Axton’s eyes fall on Zer0’s long, limber form, and his beer pauses, halfway to his mouth. It’d seemed like a good idea at the time.

 _He looks good_ , Axton thinks, inanely. The truth is that he looks pretty much exactly how Axton remembers: head-to-toe black leather, an easy cant to his hips, unreadable helmet. He’s relaxed, and when he flashes some kind of emoji at the man with him (Vaughn’s buddy? He’s got a stupid mustache, anyway), Axton fights back a surge of jealousy. Something behind his ribs pulls, and he has to stop himself from going to him. Muscle memory is a son of a bitch.

 _You chose this,_ he reminds himself, and he knocks back the rest of his beer.

He’s surprised by another drink under his nose, and this one smells much, _much_ stronger. “Oh, sugar,” Moxxi says, deftly swapping the can in his hand for the new drink, tapping the bottom to encourage him. “Pining doesn’t suit your pretty face.”

Axton frowns. “‘M not pining,” he says. The booze is damn near moonshine, burning all the way down and making him shake his shoulders like a horse. “Jesus, what’s in that?”

“Liquid courage,” Moxxi says cheerfully. She winks.

Axton narrows his eyes. “Smells like rubbing alcohol.” He takes another swig, and definitely doesn’t pay any attention to how close Zer0 is standing to that dude with the stupid mustache. He’s definitely not looking for long enough that Zer0’s head cocks, a bright red _?_ on his faceplate. “Shit,” Axton mutters. He spins fast, but whatever that shit that Moxxi’s feeding him is _already_ going to his head and Zer0 is already headed his way.

“Hey,” Zer0 says. Axton grimaces through the last of his drink. “Long time no see.”

“Hey,” Axton says. He eyes Zer0’s new suit, the discreet Atlas branding on his new sword. “Bigshot corporate blade now, huh?” 

Zer0 shrugs one shoulder, elegantly. “Well, it pays the bills. / I kill guys, and help a friend. / Seems win/win to me.”

Axton’s not really a fan of corporations, not with the history he’s got with them, but he’s gotta admit that Atlas now seems a lot different from the rest of them. The guy running it doesn’t seem like he’s got the balls to wade into that whole cutthroat world, but Atlas rose from the ashes and Zer0 supports them. That definitely counts for something. “Yeah,” Axton says. “A ‘friend’.”

“Hmm,” Zer0 says, shifting his weight on his feet and turning away. A bright red ellipsis flashes on his helmet for a moment. “That’s unfair.”

It’s so hard to look at his face, so Axton looks everywhere else, at his long-fingered hands, his shiny boots, the empty glass in his hands. His tongue feels too big in his mouth. “Yeah,” he says finally. “I know.”

Axton can hear the soft exhale of Zer0’s breath through his helmet filters. “How is vault-hunting? / I’d say we’re having a bit / more luck than you are.” 

The smile in his voice makes Axton feel guilty. He can’t figure out why Zer0 keeps giving him second chances. “Yeah, sounds like. All I ever came up with was dead bandits and a lot of cash. How’s saving the world, hero?”

This time, the red _:)_ stays on his faceplate for a while. “It’s interesting. / Plenty of guys to shoot. I’m / right where I should be.”

Ah. Moxxi’s moonshine blurs the words in Axton’s mouth, and he feels unsteady. “I’m glad,” he says, earnest, because he is. Axton’s just a guy with a gun (a guy who’s _really_ good with a gun, but still), but Zer0’s one of a kind. He should be happy. And Axton shouldn’t be thinking too hard on what could’ve been. He’s the one who bolted, anyway. “So. You and moustache, huh.” Shit. He hadn’t meant to actually say that.

Another ellipsis this time. “An interesting / assumption. You seem very / concerned about this.”

“We’re still friends, aren’t we?” Axton tries. He can’t see Zer0’s face, of course, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel pinned by his gaze when Zer0 swivels his head to stare at him. “Look. I just. Him? He looks like I could break him over my knee!” 

“Rhys has other skills,” Zer0 says.

It startles him, just how badly that hurts him. “Hey, I’ve got skills,” he says. “We could - I don’t know.” His hand reaches out of its own volition, settles unsteadily on Zer0’s wrist. “What if we just - it doesn’t have to mean anything, huh?” He knows Zer0 has always had fluid opinions on relationships, anyway. 

Gently, firmly, Zer0 pulls away. “It does if it’s you,” he says, and then he’s walking away, leaving Axton thunderstruck, hand still hanging in the air.

“Oh, sugar,” Moxxi sighs. She slides him another of those awful moonshine drinks. “You need to work on your game.”

Axton takes it and knocks the whole thing back with three hard swallows, grimacing and shaking his whole body afterwards. “Jesus Christ,” he groans, and he slams the cup down on the bar, followed by his head. “I have no idea what just happened.”

Moxxi pets a hand through his hair as she breezes away. “Don’t forget to tip, sugar.”

-

He’s really gotta ask Moxxi exactly what that shit was, because when he wakes up the next morning, he feels simultaneously still a little drunk, and also like dying. “Fuck,” he mutters, gathering his blanket around his shoulders and shuffling out the door to the common room.

Sanctuary 3 hums around him as he flops down on the couch next to Maya. She doesn’t look up from the book she’s reading. “You smell like a distillery,” she notes. “Probably shouldn’t have let Moxxi pick your drinks. You’ll be feeling that for a week.” She only sounds a little sympathetic. 

Axton screws his eyes closed and slowly lists sideways until his head is in her lap. “So glad to be back,” he says blearily. He’s being sarcastic, but he did miss this - he hasn’t seen Maya in months but she still shifts her book into one hand, the other stroking over his temple, easing his headache. “I hear you have an apprentice now.”

Maya hums. “Yep,” she says. “Hope you locked your quarters. She’ll probably rob you blind.” He did not. He considers getting up, but he’s pretty sure he’ll pass out if he tries to get up, so he figures it's a worthwhile risk. 

“Hey,” he says, and he has to clear his throat to make the rest come out. “So, uh, have you talked to Zer0 lately?”

“Yeah, because that’s what friends do.” She turns the page. “Is this the part where you tell me you fucked up again?”

“Wow,” Axton says. “Real supportive.” She’s not _wrong_ , but she’s also being kinda mean about it. He did _something_ wrong in the conversation last night, but honestly, it’s kinda hazy, and he still can’t quite put his finger on it.

“That sounds an awful lot like a yes.” 

Axton groans. “Listen, I just -”

“Keep putting your foot in it.” Maya glances down at him. “I noticed.” Her hand ceases its massaging, and he makes a little noise of complaint. “I’d tell you just to talk to him, but the last time you caught feelings you left for another planet, so we both know how well that works.”

Axton...doesn’t have the best track record with relationships. His marriage ended with a death squad. So when he realized that he’d put Sarah’s ring away and hadn’t taken it back out, that he was starting to want more than just (admittedly mindblowing) sex, he kinda panicked. He knows that Zer0 doesn’t really have the same idea about relationships as like, humans do. So he figured, Pandora was saved, time to peace out and save his heart.

Except here he is, back with the old crew, and his heart still feels beat up. Worst part is, it’s his own fault.

“What do you know about Rhys?” he asks, because he can’t help himself.

“He’s got a stupid moustache,” Maya replies. He opens his mouth to say something else but she slaps her hand down across his face. “No. Nuh uh. We’re not doing this. Be an adult. I’m not going to be a little spy for you.”

He pries her fingers away. “You know, I kind of hate your tough love.”

“No, you don’t.” She tweaks his nose. “You love powerful women.”

He twists a little in her lap so he can look up at her. “Unfortunately true.”

“I know.” She settles her hand on his forehead, stroking away his hangover. “Fine, I’ll throw you a bone.” Her face softens as she looks down at him. “He’s missed you. A lot. So just go _talk_ to him.” She wrinkles her nose. “ _Without_ the Moxxi special. Seriously, will you please go shower? I feel like I’m getting contact drunk and it’s way too early for that.”

Zer0 misses him. Something surges in Axton’s gut, and it’s not his hangover. “Thanks, Maya. You’re a hero.”

“Yes,” she says. “I am. Now go.” Unceremoniously, she hoists him off her lap and onto the floor, and he lays there for a second, groaning. “I have research to finish.”

He manages to get unsteadily to his feet. His headache has faded a little, and he’s feeling just a little bit hopeful. “Okay.” He says. He gathers his blanket cloak around him again. “Where’s the shower in this joint.”

Maya gestures vaguely towards the belly of the ship and he shuffles off to find a shower. “Oh, and Axton?” she calls. He turns back. “I’ve got a job I need doing. Are you in?” He points a finger gun at her, mimes squeezing off a shot. 

Why not? He could use a distraction right now while he strategizes. Gotta figure out how to approach this. He’s not exactly what you’d call ‘good with words’, and he was a grunt, not a commander. This is gonna require some thought. He’s already fucked up once, and he’s only been here a day. Time to figure his shit out.

-

Back pressed to the wall for cover, Axton grits his teeth. Bullets careen off the bricks next to him and send flakes of stone flying, nicking his face. “Goddamnit,” he hisses. There’s some scrawny bandit scuttling around ahead of them with an enormous gun, cackling and laying down an irritating amount of fire, stopping them from getting any further.

It’d seemed like an easy job, at first. There was the tiny hitch of Maya punting him and Zer0 off the shuttle with a map and a wave, but Zer0 seemed content to pretend like the other night hadn’t happened, which was sort of a blessing. And then there was the part where it was just like old times. Been years since they worked together but it’s just like riding a bicycle, the two of them working to fill each other’s gaps. He probably shouldn’t find it a little bit romantic, when Zer0 races to step between Axton and a bandit’s sawblade, but he was basically raised in Dahl’s army. His ideas of romance are probably a little fucked up.

And just like old times, the two of them had wrecked house. They tore through the bandit’s base, freeing up the civvies they’d been holding for ransom, but the little squirt who was in charge of the whole operation was irritatingly resilient. “Wish I’d just brought a rocket launcher,” Axton groans. The little bandit is shrieking something about how he’s going to grind them into dust, but Axton’s not really listening. He’s too busy taking stock of his ammo and keeping one eye on Zer0, planted across the gap from him with one hand pressed over the slow seap of purple from his side. He doesn’t like it.

“Hindsight is 20/20.” Zer0’s voice is strained and Axton frowns, pushing aside the ammo he’s looking through to pull out a syringe and toss it to him. “Thanks.”

“Of course, man.” Axton says it like it’s obvious, because it feels obvious to him. They’re still friends, or at least, he thought they were. Maybe friends had to see each other more than a few times a year. Maybe they shouldn’t run away from each other. Another splash of purple hits the concrete at Zer0’s feet, and Axton tenses. 

His hands close around his final clip of rifle ammo and he slots it into place. “Are you worried?” Zer0 asks, and when Axton looks over at him, through the spray of bullets, Zer0 has his head tipped, inquisitive. “It’s just a bandit.”

“I’m worried about you!” Axton says. He flaps a hand at Zer0, at the deep purple all over his gloved hands. “I mean, shit!” He knows Zer0 can look after himself, that much is obvious. It’s not that. It’s that little voice at the back of his head saying, _what if you miss your chance_? _What if this is it, this time_?

Zer0 hums. “Cover me.”

“What -?” He’s already gone, nothing left but the ghostly shimmer of his decoy, and Axton groans, but he doesn’t hesitate, rolling out of cover to lay down cover fire. He shouldn’t be able to track Zer0 but he can today, partly from instinct - years of experience means he knows where Zer0 will go - but also partly because of the purple splatter tracing his footsteps. They need to get this little fucker dead, and quickly.

Axton can see the moment the bandit catches on to what’s happening, and his heart drops. His poor turret can’t take much more, but he whips her off his shoulder and tosses her right at the little asshole’s face. His rifle clicks on empty and he yanks out his shotgun. More satisfying this way, anyway. “Well?” he yells, and the bandit rounds on him, subterfuge forgotten as his face turns an enraged red. “Don’t tell me you’re giving up!”

He has to dodge under his turret’s shield when the scrawny man sends off another barrage of bullets. He’s switched to slag, and Axton hasn’t seen that shit in _years_ but the scent still makes his skin crawl. He slides past the thunder of his turret and rolls to his feet, steeling himself. He needs to give Zer0 the opening he needs. So, shotgun in hand, shoulders shaking with the massive recoil of each shot, he marches towards the bandit.

The little asshole is just raising some horrible rocket contraption to point at Axton when he makes a strangled wet noise and his arms drop to his side, limp. The gun clatters to the ground as the bandit stares at him for a moment, baffled. Then there’s a shimmer and the blue point of Zer0’s sword swims into existence, jutting from the man’s chest. Right through the heart. Perfect aim.

Zer0 steps neatly away as the man’s body hits the concrete with a thump. “That’s that,” he says. 

He’s still bleeding. Axton holsters his shotgun and fumbles in his pocket. “Yeah, sure,” he says, coming out with another syringe. “Take this.” He’s out of bandages, but he can rip a strip off his shirt. It’ll do until he can get Zer0 to Tannis. “And hold still.”

“I’m okay, Axton. / Just a graze, I promise you. / Didn’t know you cared.”

 _Oof_. Axton winces, but when he looks up, Zer0’s head is just cocked. Curious, not pointed. “Of course I care,” Axton mutters. He gestures at the syringe in Zer0’s hand until he takes it, jabbing it deep into the meat of his thigh. “Never stopped.”

“You ran.” Zer0 holds very still as Axton shrugs out of his jacket, strips off his shirt and starts mopping at the gash on his side. “Pardon my confusion.”

Axton can hear Zer0’s breathing through his filter, this close. “I know,” he says. He focuses on his hands, on pressing a bandage to Zer0’s side and tying it tight. It’s an excuse, but also he knows too much time breathing their atmosphere will make him sick. “Probably shouldn’t have. It wasn’t you, never was you. I guess I just -” He shakes his head. “My last marriage almost ended in a firing squad. Guess I’m a little shy about romance these days.”

He’s not expecting Zer0 to curl one sticky hand around his jaw. “‘Last’ marriage?” he says, and Axton goes cold.

“I - uh - I mean, that’s not -”

Zer0’s thumb presses firmly across his mouth. “Oh, I know, I know. / It’s not a proposal, right? / But you do love me.”

Axton’s breath hitches helplessly in his chest and his hands still against Zer0’s body. “Yeah,” he says. “Yeah, I never stopped. I know, it’s not - I mean, I don’t even _know_ what you do about romance or whatever -”

He’s interrupted by the crack-hiss of the seals of Zer0’s helmet. “Stupid,” Zer0 says fondly, and there’s something about his voice, just his voice, not filtered through the breather, that makes Axton’s heart pound wildly. He looks up and Zer0 kisses him, and it’s just like everything slots back into place, like Axton carved a space out behind his ribs and Zer0’s fixed the pieces up again. He makes a wordless little noise and he kisses back, grabbing at the blood-sticky leather of Zer0’s hips as he surges forward. 

He finally has to break away to breathe and when he does Zer0 is grinning at him, and that smile with too-many sharp teeth makes his heart hammer in his chest all over again. “Promise not to be dumb again,” he says breathlessly, and Zer0 nips at his mouth.

“You’d better not,” he says.

Axton smiles at him dreamily for a moment, then he freezes. “Shit,” he says. “What about moustache?”

“What about Rhys?” Zer0 asks, but he doesn’t look concerned. Just - amused.

“You two were…” Axton trails off as Zer0’s smug grin widens. The longer he thinks about it, the clearer it gets. “You weren’t. You never were!” The relief is overwhelming. “Shit. That’s mean, dude!”

Zer0 shrugs a shoulder. “I think you earned a little retribution, don’t you?” 

Fair enough, honestly. They’ve wasted a lot of time, and it’s all his fault. Axton shrugs. “Alright, you got me there.” He takes a step in close, looking up at Zer0. “Can I earn some kissing now?”

“We’ll see,” Zer0 says, but he’s already tipping his head down and Axton laughs, delighted.

**Author's Note:**

> \- writing zer0 is a bitch and a half. haikus?? in character?? with no facial emotions to play with?? jesus  
> \- used he/his cause they're canon pronouns, but i still consider zer0 an nb character 🤷  
> \- wow crazy how nothing bad happened to maya weird
> 
> i'm on twitter @kickdrums come chat


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